Former NFL, Auburn player pleads to drug charge

With information from Michael Moore, U. S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia-

Robert Cedrick Baker, III, age 37, of Gainesville, Florida entered a plea of guilty Tuesday to possession with intent to distribute heroin and possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime in Valdosta federal court.

Baker, made famous by the photograph of Georgia's mascot UGA lunging at him, was stopped by the Lowndes Co. Sheriff's Office in January on Georgia Highway 401 for a traffic violation.

He had 59.5 grams of heroin and a Smith & Wesson, 9mm semi-automatic pistol. As part of his plea of guilty, Mr. Baker admitted that he possessed the heroin for distribution, and he was carrying the 9mm semi-automatic pistol in furtherance of his drug trafficking crime.

The maximum penalty for possession with intent to distribute heroin is twenty years in prison and a fine of $1,000,000.00, or both. The firearm charge caries a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of five years.

The case was investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Lowndes County Sheriff's Office. Assistant United States Attorney Peter Leary is handling the prosecution for the Government.